Go behind the scenes of one of the midwest’s liveliest and tastiest ethnic food festivals.

Melrose Park, Illinois has been a traditionally Italian-American suburb since the end of World War II, and though it’s starting to change, every year the old neighborhood gets back together for the Labor Day weekend festival Taste of Melrose Park. My friend David Hammond has covered this festival, with some 70 mostly amateur, mostly Italian-American vendors serving up family recipes for three days straight, for several years, so he was a natural guide for this journey behind the scenes. Every dish here has a story about the family who makes it, and we talk to ten of those families about their recipe and why it’s important to them to share it with others. It runs about 19 minutes, but it’s a party, so you won’t notice the time!

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Sky Full of Bacon is the podcasts (video and audio) and blog of Michael Gebert, James Beard Award-winning food video producer and writer, final editor of the late Grub Street Chicago and contributor to the Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times, Time Out Chicago, Serious Eats, Saveur.com and other publications. Click here to Go to Videos. Click here for Airwaves Full of Bacon, my audio podcast.